AL Day 6 - Rocks, Rockets, and Roadside Wine
Today started with a trip to East 59 Vintage and Cafe in the East Lake neighborhood of Birmingham. It's a combination coffee shop and boutique, selling a mixture of antiques and handmade crafts. The coffee was very good, and the crafts were really eclectic and lovely. The food there also seemed very good, but I wasn't feeling very hungry.
After my mornin' Joe, I drove up to Cullman to see the handiwork of another Joe, The Ave Maria Grotto. On the grounds of the St. Bernard Abbey, a single, hunchbacked monk named Brother Joseph Zoettl built over 125 miniature shrines, statues, replicas of famous religious buildings, and one massive beautiful grotto. Brother Joseph left Bavaria when he was just 14 in search of a better life at the abbey, and he spent years traveling as a housekeeper to different missions around the country, before settling in Alabama to work in the abbey's powerhouse. It was hard, tedious, and not particularly fulfilling work, so he started making his sculptures as a hobby to amuse himself out of whatever he could find including discarded glass, concrete, stones, jars, and seashells. Brother Joseph's art soon became so popular, and was bring in lots of donations to the mission, that he was soon able to dedicate himself to that full time. The path along the way to the grotto is called Jerusalem in Miniature, and includes such works by Brother Joseph as replicas of great Churches and temples of Rome, the 7 wonders of the Ancient World, Scenes from the Bible, various shrines, and my personal favorite, a fairytale castle complete with a small stone dragon in the moat.
The piece de resistance though is the jaw dropping Ave Maria Grotto. The basic stone structure is natural and inspire Brother Joseph to embellish it and turn into a dedication to the Virgin Mary. My favorite part of this story is that the stalactites are made from marble that was crushed when the freight car carrying it from a quarry was overturned. It was deemed useless by the owner, but Brother Joseph found a way to give it a good home.
Across from the grotto, there was a statue of Brother Joseph made after his death (of natural causes, his life had a much happier ending than the other famous Christian hunchback). Apparently it's actually life size so sometimes great things can come in pretty unassuming packages.
After the grotto, I went to Smith Farms Country Meat, because I can never resist a highway billboard advertising wine tastings. Smith Farms is a really cozy country store, with lots of homemade dried meats, pastries, and cheese. The wine tasting wasn't exactly what I was expecting. Rather than a person at a counter, it was a funky fully automated wine dispensing machine. Who says technology has gone too far? You go up to the front counter and prepay a little plastic card with number of samples you'd like at $2/sample. I like round numbers so I figured 5 would be good. I tried the house white, a local blush wine called the Dixie Suga, a watermelon wine, a blackberry wine, a wine/lemonade called bullfrog. Everything but the white came from an Alabama winery called Jules J. Berta Vineyards. The Dixie Suga might have been my favorite because it was a nice balance between dry and sweet. The watermelon was a close second, the flavor was delicious but it might be too sweet to drink an entire bottle of. Then again most wine probably shouldn't be drunk by the bottle. I also got a homemade dark chocolate coconut cluster, and shared some good jokes with the cashier so it was pretty great unscheduled stop.
My next stop was NASA's US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville. I knew about Cape Canaveral and Houston, but I had no idea NASA had a headquarters in Alabama. I really should have known this though, because one of my college roommates did an internship there one summer, but when she talked about I always just assumed it was a lab and office building. I didn't know there'd be actual rockets, and, as it turned out, there were lots of them. It wasn't exactly a hard building to find. The parking lot may have stood out a bit.
The thing that actually first put the Space and Rocket Center on my radar was right outside the front door, and it's the grave of Miss Baker the first monkey ever launched into space to return alive. Her big launch occurred in 1959, she was married to another monkey Big George, who she's buried next to, in 1962, in 1979 she married her second husband Norman (slightly less dynamic name) after Big George's death, and she herself passed away in 1984 giving her the second distinction of being the longest living squirrel monkey on record at 27 years. Not too bad for a supposed "lesser primate". Visitors tend to leave bananas on her grave, but for whatever reason on the day I went there a bunch of clementines instead, but I'm sure she wouldn't have minded.
Once inside. the museum I had no idea how much was in store for me. I thought I might spend an hour/hour and a half tops just looking at all the rockets and heading out, but I ended up spending close to three hours in there looking at all a wide variety of interactive exhibits.
The first exhibit I saw was a special gallery highlighting discoveries, inventions, and patents from Alabamans. They were all over the map ranging from the Discovery Channel to guided missiles to popcorn machines to Wikipedia. My personal favorite was a functioning jet pack vest, because it seems both quaint and futuristic at the same time.
My personal favorite exhibit, even moreso than all the fantastic technology, was a gallery of fine jewelry by an artist named Kathy Chan. I think it stood out to me, because it was so unexpected relative to everything else there. Born in China and completely self-taught in her art, Chan works with precious gems, metals, and minerals to create truly astonishing pieces of art. Most of the works were space themed, including a white gold Milky Way necklace, some necklaces with meteorite gems, and my favorite, a necklace with gems representing each planet placed apart at the correct spacing. There were also some non-space themed pieces including a golden praying mantis and a silver and pearl pond with little metal frogs and diamond water drops. There was also a necklace with a kind of crystal called tourmaline, that I'd never hear of before but my geology studying friends say it's pretty cool and rare. I think there's just some basic center in everyone's brain that lights up when it sees shiny things, and this gallery set it on fire.
The next exhibit was on the latest advancements in technology developed in partnership with NASA by lots of different labs, though Boeing was the primary sponsor of this particular showcase. My favorite piece was a robot that was designed to replicate hummingbird flight. That might not seem crazy impressive, but hummingbirds are lightweight, can fly in every direction, and remain stationary midair so being able to do all of that efficiently was actually unprecedented. There was also a little robotic bumblebee that had been developed by engineers at Harvard that was both very cute and also an impressive amount of mobility and technology in a super lightweight and space-saving package. Some other highlights include 3D printed tools that could be made while on the ISS allowing engineers to adapt to problems that occur in space, a lightweight metal that could balance on the head of a dandelion, and some models of flying cars we may see in the near future.
The next thing I saw was a rock climbing wall designed to look like Olympus Mons, the largest mountain on Mars. I really wanted to climb it, but there was a long line of children and no other adults so I got self-conscious. Either way it looked pretty cool.
The next exhibit was all about collaborations between NASA technologies and the military including missile guidance systems, rocket propelled guns, and lightweight but heavy duty body armor. This kind of stuff is interesting to me, but not totally my cup of tea. I did think it was pretty cool thought that one of the guys near me was a veteran who had actually used some of the RPGs and was talking about them to his son-in-law and observing how much more advanced they've gotten. It made for some very informative eavesdropping.
Up next was a nifty little interactive exhibit called Science in Orbit that created a scale model of the International Space Station that you could walk around in and explore. The technology was incredible including a helper robot called a Robonaut for working on things outside the station that looked like a much fancier rock-em sock-em robot. The freeze dried food looked absolutely disgusting though. I think I'd probably go crazy having to spend all my time in such small space for too long. This trip is probably the most time I've spent by myself, but at least I get to meet people and eat food that has flavor and consistency.
After the model ISS, I went outside for a bit to enjoy a beautiful day in the museum's rocket park. That's not a cute-sy name, they actually have a park on the premises filled with several rockets from throughout NASA's history including the Explorer 1, the rocket to launch the first US satellite, and the Redstone rocket used in John Glenn's first manned trip in Earth's orbit. I've never been to another park like it.
The outdoor section of the museum also had two pretty cool rides visitors could go on to simulate different aspects of being launched into the stratosphere. The first ride (not pictured) was the G-Force simulator which was essentially a small circular room that would spin really fast to create three Gs of pressure and then the floor would drop out but the G force would keep you pinned to the wall. At Canobie Lake Park in New Hampshire, there's a similar ride called the Turkish twists that I liked to go on during our annual middle school band trip, but I liked knowing this version was NASA improved.
The other ride was called the space shot, which simulated another 3 Gs of liftoff and also something called microgravity. I thought from the look of it, that it would be one of those rides that took you up really slowly and then dropped you. I don't really love those, but there were lots of children in line so I figured it couldn't be that bad. Imagine my surprise, when instead of the slow lift and the fast drop, the thing just shot to the top lighting fast before coming to an abrupt halt to give you a brief moment of zero gravity feeling. I was impressed with my own intestinal fortitude and managed to keep down my coffee, wine, and coconut cluster, but I did let slip out a long sustained "Shiiiiiiiiiiiiitttttt" on the way up that I hope was mostly obscured by the sound of the takeoff for the sake of the children around me. Luckily directly next to me was an adult couple, that was equally surprised by our shared trauma (in the moment) and excitement (after the fact).
After regaining my sense of balance, I went to the next building called the Saturn V hall. Fittingly enough inside the building was the Saturn V which took the first men to the moon. The hulking machine was hanging from the ceiling in sections all along the massive hall. On the ground were various little stops explaining the history of the rocket as well as some of NASAs other advancements. The thing that most impressed me was the fact that the rocket was programmed using IBM punch cards. It's absolutely insane to me that man got to the moon using cardboard. The hall also had the actual Apollo 16 Lunar Capsule, an authentic Lunar rock that astronaut Alan Bean said was his favorite, and a scale model orbital space lab.
After all that space exploration, my caffeine levels were in need of a lift off. I set out for the Alchemy Lounge, a hip coffee shop on the top floor of a cotton mill turned arts center, Lowe Mills ARTs & Entertainment. The coffee was excellent, my barista was really funny, and the place had a really cool vibe, also serving craft beers and hosting concerts occasionally.
Even better, the coffee gave me the energy to explore the different stations in the art center taking in hundreds of local arts and crafts by artists and artisans from around Huntsville and the rest of Alabama. There were some mighty fine drawings, paintings, sculptures, jewelry, clothing, pastries, and more. Basically if you can name it, someone in Alabama is doing a cool version of it.
My favorite pieces were this weird little army guy saying, "Don't let the bastards grind you down" because that's my college band's motto, and this painting of Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior with cat heads because why not?
Before leaving the art center, I stopped at a place called Pizelle's Confection. I think it is entirely possible that regardless of how anything tastes, they probably have the prettiest cakes and chocolates I have ever seen. Because of how beautiful everything looked, and also largely because they had a chocolate called Bill 'Effing Murray, I did feel obligated to see if everything tasted as good as it looked. They had a wide variety with some pretty unusual flavors, but because everything was handcrafted it was relatively expensive for the size of the truffles so I limited myself to 1 truffle and 2 bars that I paced apart reasonably so as to not spoil my appetite for dinner. I tried the truffle first which had milk chocolate ganache, Earl grey tea, and local honey covered in a dark chocolate shell. It was called Goodbye Earl, and it tasted as good as I imagine the revenge from the titular Dixie Chix song felt. I'd recommend checking out their website just to see how cool these things look up close and to read their funny names.
For dinner, I went to the Ol Heidelberg Cafe a family owned German restaurant hidden away in a Huntsville strip mall. The place was a real local gem, and there was about a 40 minute wait. But the waitresses all wore lederhosen and their was a painting of a reindeer in a hat in the bathroom so I felt like it would be worth the wait.
When I did get seated, I ordered the King Ludwig Chicken which was open faced chicken cordon bleu sauteed in a light cream sauce, topped with a mixture of German meats, Swiss and Roquefort cheeses. It was incredible, super cheesy, tender yet crispy with good smoked German deli meats to send it all over the top. I loved it. It also came with a salad and some fine German pumpernickel bread to start with. My waitress seemed very surprised that I didn't want any dressing with salad, but what can I say I am a plain Jane vinegar-disliking boy. I did eat the whole salad though which is a big step for me. I also washed it all down with a good dark German dunkel. It was worth eating nothing but snacks earlier in the day to fully appreciate this fantastic dining experience.
After dinner, I drove back to Birmingham. I wanted to go Ghost Train Brewing Company because a few of the other comedians said it was the best brewery in the city. They were having a concert in the brewery though so it was too popping and high energy for me. It looked like a lot of fun, but I really just wanted a place where I could sit and sip. I went to Good People Brewing Company instead. I got a flight of the Muchacho Mexican Lager, the Bearded Lady Wheat ale, the Urban Farmer Farmhouse Ale, The Denim Down Hiller Winter Ale, and the Coffee Oatmeal Stout. Naturally I liked the stout a lot, but the Mexican lager and the winter ale stood out as great easy drinking beers, with the lager being lighter and the ale being maltier. The other two were good, but just not my favorites. I also really enjoyed all the art for each beer logo, and I ended up having a really nice conversation with the hipster-y guy next to me about Paul Thomas Anderson movies (he also just saw Phantom Thread), so I felt like I made a good call on my brewery choice even if I didn't up seeing a concert.
When I got to my Air BnB, I decided to reward myself with another one of my fancy chocolates. I had the Bill Effing Murray which was aandy bar with a layer of toasted marshmallow & a layer of dark chocolate whiskey ganache dipped in dark chocolate, topped with sea salt & toasted pecan. Sweet christ, it was good.
Favorite Random Sightings: The cashier at the grotto saying "You're not supposed to judge people outside the church, but you have to judge the people inside it" (I like that); Vote Twinkle for a Brighter Alabama; Deez Vapes; A little kid giving himself a pep talk in the bathroom: "Okays so I can't do the stand up pee"
Regional Observations: Maybe it's a Saturday thing, but today I saw the highest percentage of people wearing denim overalls I have ever seen.
Albums Listened To: I Like Fun by They Might Be Giants (the sheer volume of their output is impressive, the fact that it's still good 35 years in is incredible); Old by Danny Brown (the album that convinced me that Danny was a force to reckoned with); Old Head by Jim Palana (This is a really good batch of my dad's songs but I'm also a little biased because I play bass on most of the tracks. It does feel weirdly self-indulgent to listen to myself on my iPod); Oldies Classic Doo Wop Gold Vol. 2 by Various Artists (just A Little Bit of Soap by the Jarmels, an underrated gem)
People's Favorite Jokes:
Did you hear that Fed-Ex is merging with UPS? They're calling it Fed Up.
Two guys walk into a bar. The third guy ducked.
When my boyfriend told me to stop acting like a flamingo I had to put my foot down.
Songs of the Day:
The new Vince Staples album is being praised for mixing heavy experimental Detroit beats with some airy female pop vocals, but Danny's been doing that for at least five years. This dropped in 2013
They didn't spell his name right but it's a good showcase of the old boy
I love this song
